Aquarium
by TheIceCubeCancer
Summary: "I looked up in surprise when I heard the voice. 'Just my luck' I thought. Of course it would be Poseidon, of all people and gods in this world. Then it should be him." 13 years post TLO
1. At The Aquarium

A/N: I apologize now if there is any OOC'ness, hopefully there's not. If there is, please forgive me.

Note: I have never been to any aquarium in New York, so this is probably not accurate with the real aquarium.

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians – my brain is too messed up to own that.

* * *

**Aquarium**

* * *

_At The Aquarium _

Why was I, Annabeth Chase daughter of Athena, standing inside an aquarium in New York on a Saturday night, completely alone? You might be asking yourself.

One reason and one reason only:

Percy Jackson.

I know what you're thinking, you are thinking something along the lines of _Whaaat?_

The time is probably right for an explanation, don't you think?

You see, when The Battle of Manhattan was over and Percy was offered immortality, he accepted!

I was crushed, for I had fallen for him and discovered it to late to tell him – maybe if I had found out earlier I could have avoided all of this.

Anyway to make it even better, Percy fell in love with Athena – the feeling was mutual.

Perseus Jackson fell in love with Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy and _my mother!_

To complete my happiness Percy and Athena became engaged, precisely three years, two weeks and four days after they announced to Olympus and all demigods that they were dating.

Today, it's thirteen years ago, Percy became a god. God of tidal waves to be exact. I'm 29 years old and haven't really dated anyone since Percy (and we never really dated.) It's not even that my work is occupying me. After I started on rebuilding Olympus, I got my own architecture-company. To spare you the boring details let's just say that I'm very wealthy and the owner of a highly respected company.

I moved to another window where there were Common Lionfishs.

Back to the dating, it's not that I haven't dated anyone. I just haven't felt _it._

Even though it's a long time ago, I can't believe that Percy choose immortality. When I had the choice of becoming a huntress I said: thanks, but no thanks. I said no because of him.

He didn't even seem to think about the harm and hurt he would cause others. (Cue me!)

I could feel the tears start to form in my eyes, I started to blink furiously.

I. Would. Not. Cry!

Okay, I can handle the godly part, but dating my mother is just too much, it's so... I don't even have a word to describe what I'm feeling.

So that is why I'm at the aquarium, a Saturday night – alone.

I guess it's a bad idea, I mean anytime I'm near water or anything relating to the ocean I think of Percy.

I moved to the next window in the aquarium. I had to smile, it contained Hippocampi or more commonly known as seahorses. No matter when I saw them, heard of them or talked about them I would think of Tyson – and his fish ponies.

This time I saw them, they did remind me of Tyson, but they reminded me of something else: That I wasn't the only person being hurt by all of this, in lack of a better word, drama. Percy's father, Poseidon, was hurt as well. All because of two things, if you asked me:

1] His son falling in with his enemy.

2] I think that Athena and Poseidon has always had a thing for each other, or at least Poseidon has a thing for Athena.

It's weird to think that maybe the sea god has been in love with the goddess of wisdom for forever, but never did anything about it. But then again, Percy was never really good with admitting feelings for another living being.

It must run in the family, in the genes or something.

Please, don't quote me for that!

My guess is that for thirteen years, a daughter of Athena and a sea god has been going around, both feeling completely miserable.

I noted that my cheeks were wet and when I licked my lips they tasted like salt.

_Tears_ I thought.

I had started to cry, without my noticing. I quickly dried my eyes, it didn't help – the tears still came down my cheeks. I started to walk towards the door to the room where the sharks where. I had my face towards the ground so no one would notice my red eyes.

Since I was so busy with hiding the tears that kept coming, I didn't notice a figure coming towards me before it was too late.

That came out way to dramatically. The truth is that we just bumped into each other. Because I had walked in my own thought, I wasn't quite steady as I normally would be, resulting in me falling to the ground. The unknown person I collided with held out a hand. I took it and he pulled me up.

"I'm sorry, I was walking in my own thoughts. I should have paid more attention. I'm sorry," I said to the man, not looking at him. I refused to let the world know that I was crying.

"I'm sorry, I collided with you. I was in my own world," he apologized at the same time as I did.

There was something about his voice, as if I'd heard it before.

I forced the tears to stop before I looked up into a pair of very known pair of eyes, or so I thought.

"Annabeth, right?" he asked

"Yeah, that's me," I said nervously.

"Can I ask you why you have been crying?" he asked me.

I'd like to say that I handled the conversation in a very decent and mature way. That I came with a quick, white lie and he believed it, and I left after that.

The truth is that the tears I had managed to stop, before I looked at him, came again and this time I couldn't hold them back. He pulled me into a hug and let me cry until I didn't have any tears left.

I looked up at him, into those eyes I thought I knew.

So alike and yet so different.

"Thanks," I said, my throat dry from crying.

"You're welcome. So, Annabeth. What do you say about getting a cup of coffee? You talk, maybe I talk, we both listen? It's not healthy keeping such a thing to yourself for so long," he said, then looked me in the eyes and continued, "I should know."

"Yeah, okay. Coffee and talk, sure," I said, as I looked into Poseidon's eyes.

* * *

A/N: This came to me when I had read one of those fanfictions were Percy accept immortality and then fall in love with Athena. This is a work of my weird brain, when I let it go and wonder around freely.

I have no idea to where this shall go, if it will go anywhere. Any ideas?

Please let me know what you think.


	2. At The Café

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians. Nor do I own an aquarium in New York.

* * *

**Aquarium**

* * *

_At The Café_

I let myself be lead by Poseidon, towards the café at the aquarium.

He was right, it's not healthy to keep something like this to myself. I needed to talk to someone, so I hopefully could get over him. I doubt that to happen, but you can always hope, right?

Talking to someone who knew me? Easy.

Someone who would listen to me? The list got significantly smaller, but it could go.

Thalia? Nah, she was still a part of the hunt, so she would most likely tell me to get over the idiot, or maybe join the huntresses. Like I would do that.

Clarisse? I trusted her with my life. But getting advice about love? No way.

Juniper? I really like her, I do. It's just that, she's with Grover and he's Percy's best friend. And I know for a fact, that she can't keep a secret if her life depended on it. So, not Juniper.

Rachel? We might have been able to get along after the war and we might have become friends (sort of) But dating for her was a no-go. Tough luck.

Katie? She had told me that if I ever needed to talk she was there for me. I already knew back then, that I wouldn't put my problems on her shoulders. She has her own guy problems, and they look nothing like mine.

But talking to someone who understood me, in this situation? Yeah, that is about 0.001 % of people I know there's left. Not much to work with.

I felt myself being pushed gently into a chair.

"Coffee, juice, smoothie, hot chocolate. What do you want to drink?" Poseidon asked.

I snapped back to reality, when I realized I had been asked a question.

"Sorry? I was in my own thoughts," I said.

He laughed, in a way it reminded me of Percy. But Poseidon laugh was more... I can't really describe it. There just was _something_ about it.

"You do that a lot lately, don't you? Being in your own thoughts, I mean," he said with a smile. "What do you want to drink?"

"Oh. Uhm, some hot chocolate, please," I said.

He caught one of the waitresses attention and ordered for both of us. When she had left to get the beverages for us, he asked, "So, why are you here and looking very unhappy? Your mother would be disappointed in you, not going to a library or something to be unhappy, and instead go to an aquarium of all places. What happened?" At the mention of the aquarium, he brought out his arms, to indicate _this place._

"I, uhm, like fish? And seeing them in a closed place makes me sad?" I said, trying to sound convincing, but it came out like questions. Damn...

"Here you go, two hot chocolates. Can I get you anything else?" the waitress said, she had a nametag, but it was printed in a killer style for dyslexics, so they couldn't read it – including me.

Poseidon looked at me and I shook my head. "No thanks, that's all," he said to the waitress. She nodded, "Okay, if there's anything you need, just let me know. Okay?" She left before we could answer.

Poseidon shook his head at the waitress's behavior and leaned closer to me.

"You like fish? You're worried about fish? Athena _might_ think that I'm stupid, but seriously? One of her daughters is concerned about fish? Tell it to the marines. Now, the truth. Please." There was something about the way he looked me in the eyes that made me tell the truth.

"It's thirteen years ago since Percy became a god," I murmured, I took the cup with hot chocolate and drank, so I wouldn't have to look at him.

"And ten years ago, they became engaged," I heard Poseidon say quietly.

I looked up at him. "Yeah, that too," I said.

We were quiet for a long time. Each lost in own hopes, dreams and thoughts. It could have been seconds, minutes maybe it was for an hour. Don't get me wrong it wasn't uncomfortable, in fact it was a comfortable silence we shared until Poseidon broke it, I found that I didn't mind that either.

"You still didn't tell me, why you choose to spend your night at an aquarium."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement – leaving me to decide if I wanted to explain or not.

"You haven't told me what _you_ did at the aquarium, I thought you liked fish to be free. Not captured. When we are at unusual things, why did you take your enemy's daughter to coffee, err, hot chocolate?" I asked.

"If I answer your questions, will you answer mine?"

I couldn't see what the catch should be, if there were any. Besides if I didn't want to answer, I could always lie.

"Truthfully," he added with a smile.

My eyes widened. One more question to the list.

"Fine. But I start with the questions," I said. "Can you read minds?"

"No, but I'm good at reading body language and you are an easy book to read." I let go of a breath, I didn't know I had held and relaxed.

"Aquarium?" he simply said, unfortunately for me, I knew what he meant.

I sighed. "Every year, on today's date, I go to a place, I either I have been with Percy or reminds me of him. Quite silly, huh? My turn, why were you at the aquarium today?"

"I was walking around the city, when it started to rain. I just wanted shelter."

I leaned closer to him and smirked. "And now the truth. Please."

He sighed.

"When creatures of the sea is captured and kept in a place like this, they start to think that they are alone. They need to know that they aren't. Actually it's not because they don't like being here, in reality they think it's a quite nice place to be, mainly because the animals that are here," he lowered his voice, as if he told me a secret, "aren't the brightest ones."

For a moment, Poseidon looked exactly like Percy when he was telling me a joke. Of course, when I thought about it, it wasn't that weird – they were related by blood (or is it ichor?)

I forced myself to laugh, well, not forced – I did think it was funny, it was just the resemblance with Percy, in that moment, that startled me.

"Pain has just crossed your eyes, why?" Poseidon asked me.

"You reminded me of Percy," I blurted out. I could feel heat rise to my cheeks.

"If it makes you feel better, he technically looks like me."

I looked up from my cup and looked at him. When our eyes met, both of us cracked up. We laughed so much that my stomach started to hurt. After a while, we both managed to calm down.

"Yeah, that is true. I just never thought of it in that way," I smiled.

We sat and talked for a long, long time. I completely forgot time and place. It was almost like we were in our own little world, where time had stopped.

It was first when I looked out of one of the windows, and saw how dark it was, that I came back to reality.

"Hello, anybody home?" Poseidon waved a hand in front of my face. "Did your hear what I said, Annabeth?"

"Ehm, no. I just realized how late it is, I'm sure Katie will be nervous. I better head home now."

I took my bag up on my lap and began searching for money in it.

"Already that late? Time is going faster, when you have a good time." He put some money on the table. "I'll pay. Are you coming?" he asked, while standing up and gathering his things.

"Uhm, yeah. Thanks." I stood up and grabbed my shirt and bag. "Ready to go."

* * *

When we came out of the aquarium, it was dark – darker than it looked from the aquarium. And definitely darker than when I came, who knows how long we sat in there and talked?

I shivered. For a day in August, it was freezing. Maybe Zeus was angry...

"Where do you live? I could walk you home, you never know, what could happen," Poseidon said.

I told him my address, though I'm not sure he understood since I was shivering so much.

With a smile, he handed me his jacket. It was first know I noticed that he wore jeans and a normal shirt and not his usual outfit.

"Thanks," I murmured and put the jacket on.

For a while, we walked in silence. That was until I realized, that there was one question I'd had on my mind the whole time, but didn't ask.

"Does she know? I mean, have you told her?" There was no need for an explanation. Poseidon knew who '_she' _was.

"No, to both of your questions. She doesn't know and _I_ haven't told her." But what about... "Neither has Aphrodite. You know, you're not that hard to read. Anyway, I seriously doubt that Aphrodite even knows," he said, a bit bitter – but still smiling.

"Why wouldn't Aphrodite know? Isn't love her thing?" I asked.

"I'm a good actor," Poseidon smiled at me.

"But wouldn't she know anyway?"

"Yeah, she _would,_ would is the magical word here. She is so excited and worked up over Athena and Percy, so she doesn't..."

"She isn't aware of other peoples feelings," I helped.

"Yeah, other peoples feelings..."

"So, why did you take me, your enemy's daughter, to..."

I didn't finish my sentence, for Poseidon cut me off. "She's not my enemy! Yes, we disagree more than, actually, agreeing. But I don't hate her, and I can sit and have a talk with whoever I want. Besides you looked sad. And you know that saying: _'Misery loves company.'"_

"I knew there was a reason why I liked that saying."

We both laughed a bit, when our laughter died, we walked in silence until we came to the road where Katie and I lived. Our apartment were on the second floor in a red building made of bricks.

We came around the corner and I stopped, from the spot I stood on you would be in front of the door – if you crossed the road, of course.

"Then we're here, I live over there." I pointed towards the apartment, Katie and I shared.

"It looks nice," Poseidon said.

"Yeah, thanks, it is nice. And thanks for chocolate and the talk. You were right, it's not healthy to keep it inside."

"I'm the one thanking you, for understanding. Bye, I guess," he said, starting to walk away.

"Yeah, bye," I said, loud enough for him to hear me. He turned around and waved. I walked over the street. I found my keys in my bag and opened the door. I walked up the stairs until I came to my apartment. If you're wondering why Katie and I lived together, there is a simple explanation.

Neither of us were romantically involved with anyone and we enjoyed the company after a long day of work. Me with my architecture and Katie with her flowers. (She owned a flower shop)

Since it was so late, I figured Katie was still asleep, so I opened the door, very, quiet.

"Where have you been? Do you know what time it is? I was so worried about you. And why were you with Percy?"

Katie was_ not_ asleep. Actually she was very awake if you asked me.

Honestly I didn't know she could talk so fast, and that is saying something. We have been friends for a long time and lived together for seven years. If anyone should know her, it should be me.

"Katie relax. To answer your questions: I was at the aquarium. No I don't know what time it is, but I think it is about eleven PM. You don't have to worry, I'm a big girl. And no, I was not with Percy."

While I was answering her questions, I sat down on the couch, with Katie besides me.

"It's more like one AM!"

"One AM? Wow. I didn't think it was that late."

"You have to go to bed now, both of us. We need to be fully rested tomorrow." I must have looked really confused, for she continued, "Thalia, Clarisse and Rachel are coming over. We're having a movie night, remember?"

* * *

A/N: WOW! When I wrote this and decided to post it, I actually expected many, many flames, saying _What a horrible story. How can you even think of a couple like this? Are you mental? _

But I only got happy and nice feedback. 'Only' is a stupid word since I'm not complaining in any way. I'm very happy and thankful for the nice support.

Apparently, my brain isn't _that _messed up.

I was actually surprised of how many, who support Annabeth/Poseidon.

I'm not sure of what I think yet... Mainly since there isn't much fanfiction about them.

Thanks to all who has read, reviewed, favorized and put me on story alert.

I'd love to hear your thoughts – positive or negative.


	3. At Blockbuster

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and The Olympians, Blockbuster or any of the mentioned movies. Mentioned songs are not mine either.

* * *

**Aquarium**

* * *

_At Blockbuster_

"Morning Annabeth," Katie said, when I entered the kitchen. "Slept well?"

"Yeah nice, thanks," I yawned. "What time is it?"

"11 AM," Katie answered, while cooking... something.

"11 AM? Gods! Speaking of which, in the name of... whoever the food god is, what are you making?"

Katie snorted, "Thanks for believing in my amazing skills. I'm making pancakes – for tonight, when Thalia, Clarisse and Rachel are coming over."

"Oh, pancakes." Who would have thought it was pancakes? "They look... Special..."

Katie turned around and put a pancake on top of a plate with the other pancakes. Before she turned to the stove, to make the next pancake, she looked at me with a puzzled expression. I cleared my throat. Awkward silence, "Uhm, they'd be here at 12.30 PM, right?"

"Yep, 12.30 PM. Want to hear my plan for today?" I barely had time to nod before she continued, "After a little snack, we'll be going to find the movies for today. When we come back here, we'll start watching them. When we're hungry we make pizzas." She paused from her ramble for a moment and looked lost in thoughts. "On second thought, I'll make pizzas. Speaking of pizzas I think I'll prepare them after I've made these _pancakes_, " She shot me a look, I just smiled sheepishly. "So when we're hungry we'll eat them. Warm or cold. They're still tasty..."

Katie looked dreamy by the thought of pizza. In a way, she's obsessed with pizza, no wonder we'll eat it tonight.

She snapped back to reality, "So after we has eaten we'll see some more movies and eat my amazing pancakes until we can't stay awake any longer. Then sleep. What do you think?"

"It sounds great, really. Do you need help with..." I pointed towards the kitchen and waved my hand. "Any kitchen thing?"

To be honest, I never been the best chef. In fact I shouldn't be in a kitchen unless I should have a glass of water. (And even that isn't a good idea)

Katie seemed to know. "No, that's fine. I'll handle it. Just shower, dress and get ready." She smiled at me before she turned to the stove.

I made my way towards the bathroom to get ready.

* * *

When I entered my room to get dressed after my bath, I went over to the radio to turn it on.

I looked at the clock. 12.03 PM. Plenty of time. I got dressed and was brushing my hair.

I paused in my actions, sitting with my brush in the middle of a knot. I turned off the radio and listened. Unless Katie has started to talk to herself, my guess would be that Thalia, Rachel and Clarisse has arrived. I hurried to finish faster, unfortunately that ended in me pulling too hard when I tried to get past the knot in my hair. When I, finally, was done with my hair, I dressed and went into the living room.

"Hey," I said.

"Annabeth!" I was tackled into a hug by Thalia.

"Hey Thalia!" I said, hugging her back. We hadn't seen each other in... I have no idea of when I saw Thalia the last time – it seemed like a million years ago. After a couple of seconds I pulled away to greet the others.

"Hi Clarisse."

"Hi Annie." She pulled me into a hug. Since the war we, to much surprise, became friends. After our hug, I turned to Rachel. "Hey," we both said and hugged.

After the war, not much had changed. At camp there are now many more cabins, kids are being claimed faster and placed in their respective cabins. Me and Clarisse are friends, so am Rachel and I. Apart from that nothing else has changed, Rachel is still the oracle, Thalia is in the hunt, Chiron is still training half-bloods at camp and demigods are still sent on quests.

"You're here early, why's that?" I asked, leading them towards the couch and chairs so we could sit down. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Katie walk out in the kitchen, probably to get something to drink.

"Oh. We thought that we could just come a bit earlier since we were going to spend the entire day together anyway. We told Katie yesterday, she didn't tell you?" Clarisse said. We sat down and made ourselves comfortable, I sent Clarisse a look.

"Of course, she told me. That's why I'm asking. Please note the sarcasm," I smiled sweetly at her.

Katie entered the room with five glass and a bowl of chips balanced on a tray. "I didn't have a chance to tell her," Katie placed a glass in front of each of us and the bowl in the middle of the table. She sat down beside Rachel. "Annie was grumpy all morning yesterday, then she left and came home late last night, I told you that guys, and I sent her early to bed and she slept to 11 AM this morning and I didn't have the heart to wake her up." They all sent me a look, clearly asking _grumpy?_

"You know me," I sighed. "I'm always grumpy on August 18."

There were an awkward silence. We all knew what I said was true. Thalia looked at me, confusion clear in her features. She looked like she was having an inner discussion, a look of peace crossed her face. I knew her so well that I knew it meant she would change the topic, I didn't blame her. Awkward conversations are, well as said: Awkward.

"So we hear you were with Percy last night, care to share?"

I looked from Thalia to Clarisse, from Clarisse to Rachel and back again, they all had expectant looks on their faces. The only problem? I had no idea of what she was talking about. I looked at Katie for help, she looked slightly guilty.

Curse on her! Last night she had asked me why I was with Percy and apparently she had told our beloved guest that I was with 'Percy' last night. Curse her, again.

"I wasn't with Percy. I don't know why you assume I was with him, but I wasn't. Okay? Great, now shouldn't we find a movie or seven to watch, huh?"

They all looked skeptical at me, shared a look and shrugged it off. Probably planning to interrogate me later.

"Sure... What kind of movie are we in the mood for?" Rachel asked, she sent me a look. Of courseshewould know what I was doing last night, for some reason she kept it to herself.

"A historical one."

"A romantic story."

"One where many people die."

"Where women have more rights than men." We all said at the same time.

The only one who hadn't said anything was Rachel, we all looked at her to hear what she wanted to see. "I think I know the perfect movie for us to watch, it even meets all of our requests," she said with a big smile. "There's only one problem, it's a bit long."

"How long is 'a bit long'?" Katie asked.

"I'd guess about three hours and fourteen minutes," Rachel answered.

For a guess that surely was a pretty accurate one.

"That's a very long time for people who has ADHD, Rachel. What movie is that long anyway?" Thalia said.

"I know it's a long time, but it has all the elements we wants to see. Annabeth wants some historical, check. Katie wants some love, check. Clarisse wants people to die, check. You, Thalia wants women to have more rights than men, sort of check. I want a disaster movie, in that case it depends on perspective, but some would say check. Besides there is invented this amazing thing when you're watching a movie you can pause it, smart huh?" Rachel had been hanging out too much with me, she'd started to use sarcasm – which were my thing.

"If we can pause it, there shouldn't be a problem. What movie do you have in mind? At the moment I can't think of anyone who has all those requirements," I said. Thalia, Katie nodded, Clarisse a bit reluctant – there shouldn't be a problem.

"Titanic."

"The one with the ship?" I asked. Rachel nodded. "Haven't you already seen it Rachel? I know neither of us has," I pointed to Thalia, Katie, Clarisse and myself. "But haven't you?"

Rachel shook her head. "No, I haven't. There's no one who wants to see it with me. Everyone has already seen it before. Can we please see it?"

I looked at the others. Clarisse shrugged and said, "As long as there is someone who dies, I'm happy."

"I'm with Clarisse. Someone dies, that should be lovely," Thalia said.

Katie and I shared a look. "Sure, let's get ready so we can rent some movies." Katie said.

There was chaos when everyone jumped up and went to get shoes on. Eventually we were all ready and on our way out. We walked down the stairs and were halfway down until we would reach the front door when I found out that I had forgotten a jacket. "I forgot a jacket, just continue. I'll be there in a minute," I said on my way up to the apartment.

I fumbled with the keys, when I reached the door. Finally I opened it and ran into the apartment. I looked in the hall to find the first, the best jacket. There weren't anyone. I ran to my room and saw a jacket on a chair. I grabbed it and ran out of the apartment, struggling to get the jacket on.

"Okay, I'm here. Should we go?"

* * *

"What does the film looks like, Rachel?" Katie asked.

"Uhm, there's two people and a ship on the cover and then it says _Titanic_ in big letters." Rachel said as we came to Blockbuster. As we walked through the doors to the store, I could hear a song play quietly.

_'And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming.  
Or the moment of truth in your lies.  
When everything seems like the movies.  
Yeah you bleed just to know your alive.'_

I couldn't help but notice the irony of the song, I should have heard it the day before. Not now.

Me and Katie came often to that blockbuster. It was big, many movies to choose from and it had a nice atmosphere.

When you entered the store you would come into the room where the new and popular movies were. That room also contained the cashier, where you'd buy or rent the movies. That room was fairly big, especially since it had an aisle, that aisle were 6'5" wide. If you continued walking down the aisle you would come to a new room where the movies were listed alphabetically and in genre, that was very big, not weird since they had a huge collection of movies. When you stood in the door to the ABC room of movies (as I liked to call it) and looked to the left you would see a curtain of pearls. Those would usually be seen as corny, but in this case they weren't. They were just right. In the curtain room there were the movies blockbuster recommended. That room were also fairly big.

As you can hear it was no wonder Katie and I preferred this over so many other blockbusters, there were one closer to our apartment, but it wasn't big and the people who worked there weren't very nice.

"Wow, this place is... wow," Clarisse said, she stood frozen in the door, so did Thalia, both their mouths gaping open.

Rachel, Katie and I had all been here before, we probably looked the same when we first entered, but that didn't stop us from laughing.

Thalia and Clarisse sent us a look. "Should we split up?" Thalia asked, still glaring at us since we had some troubles to stop laughing.

"Good idea. If we find some movies we want to see we'll just take them and then see if it's something when we meet up again, sounds good?" Katie said when she had gotten control over herself.

We all nodded. "Yeah, that sounds great."

I decided to go to the ABC room, figuring that would be easier.

Rachel went to the curtain room, insisting on that blockbuster should recommend it. Thalia followed Rachel since she was the oracle and knew stuff.

Katie and Clarisse stayed were we entered, saying that the movie probably was popular.

When I entered the ABC room, I felt lost. Where should I start? I decided to start from one end and work my way through the room.

When I had walked up and down, between the rows of movies for a while, I had only found two we could consider. One were a cartoon and if I weren't mistaken it could easily be _Hercules_, fitting for us demigods. The other wasn't a cartoon or it didn't look like it was, it looked like an action or war movie. In ancient time. Just something for Clarisse and me.

I was almost near giving up and considered go find the others to see if they had found something, but on the other hand I was the one who were with most of the movies it _had_ to be here.

A romance or a disaster. What would _Titanic _be classified as? I decided to check the disasters first. Why check there you ask? I haven't got a clue, a hunch, maybe.

I quickly found the disaster movies. They filled an entire section, there weren't a place were the same movie stood twice. Very impressive that there were only one place were there were a movie missing, most likely rented to someone. It didn't take long to spot a movie with two people and a ship on. I took it, the title wasn't that long so it could say _Titanic._

I grabbed the two movies I had placed on the floor and made a quick decision.

When I entered the curtain room I was surprised of how many people there were. About fifteen people or so.

Now you think: That's not many people!

Well yeah it is. In this blockbuster it is.

It didn't take me long to spot Rachel, with her red hair I mean. She was talking to a tall, blond guy. About 3 feet away from them Thalia stood, talking to a young woman. They seemed to be in deep conversations, it would be rude to interrupt them. Instead I listened to the music in the background.

_'I've been down so low.  
People look at me and they know.  
They can tell something is wrong.  
Like I don't belong.'_

I smiled, again a song that would fit for me on August 18.

"Guess who." I felt hands on my eyes. I laughed, only one person would do that to me. "Percy! Hey," I said, as I turned around and hugged him. It wasn't a comfortable hug, considering I still held three movies.

Percy hugged me back, even though I held the movies. "Did Rachel tell you that I would do this?"

"In your dreams. I'm just very skilled," I smiled as we let go of each other.

He frowned and looked like he wanted to say something, but never got to say it, since my mom, Athena, came over.

"Hi Annabeth," she said and hugged me.

"Hi mom," I said and hugged her back.

When we let go of each other, Percy asked, "So why are you, Rachel and Thalia here?"

"We're having a movie night, Katie and Clarisse are here too." I said.

"That's nice. What are you going to see?" Athena asked.

"Titanic," I said and handed the movies to her. "And what else we find and want to see."

I could hear Katie and Clarisse talking as they entered the curtain room, I didn't listen to their conversation as my attention was on Percy and Athena.

They were both smiling and looking mildly at me. "What?" I asked.

"This isn't _Titanic._" Percy said.

"What? Yes it is. There is two people and a boat," I said. Athena handed me the movie. "This is _Poseidon._"

I dropped the movie and stumbled backwards.

"Wha...Argh!" I had walked right into someone and was near falling, the man I had stumbled into, grabbed me, but I fell over his leg. Causing me landing on the floor and pulling him with, so he landed on top of me. I let out a sound of pain as he landed on me. I closed my eyes of embarrassment.

"Smooth, Annabeth. Really smooth," I mumbled to myself.

I felt the weight on me disappearing as the man stood up. I opened my eyes to see a hand stretched out towards me, I grabbed it and came to stand up again.

"Sorry and thanks," I said quietly. I could feel the entire rooms eyes on me. I could feel my cheeks become slightly pink.

"That's fine. Not a problem, anytime." I looked up in surprise when I heard the voice. 'Just my luck' I thought. Of course it would be Poseidon, of all people and gods in this world. Then it should be him.

I was sure my cheeks were burning red at that time.

I took the movies partly from the floor and partly from Percy. Clearing my throat I said, "Rachel? You shouldn't by any chance have found our movie. Should you?"

'Or predicted this little accident' I added in my thoughts.

"Sure, I have," she said, giving me a big smile.

Apollo stood beside her and looking at me in a very thoughtful way. I didn't know if I should be worried or not. He gave me a bright smile as I made my way towards them to take the movie and leave _Poseidon_.

I turned to Katie, Clarisse and Thalia. "Got any movies?"

They shook their heads.

I started to go towards the curtain to pay for the renting time. Just a few more feet and I would be safe.

"Hey, Annie!" I could hear Hermes call. I turned around and looked at him, he nodded his head towards Ares.

"Nice jacket," Ares said. I looked down at myself. Gods! The fates must really hate me. My cheeks, which had regained some of their normal color, blushed up.

I looked helplessly at Poseidon. "_Keep it_," he mouthed.

"Ehm, thanks," I said, not sure who I said it to.

I paid for the movies and went outside to wait for the others.

When I heard them come I started to walk home.

"What was that about?" Thalia yelled after me. I had quite the headstart.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I yelled back.

"Why did you have Poseidon's jacket?" Katie asked.

"He gave it to me."

"What?" Katie, Clarisse and Thalia exclaimed. "Why?"

"You've heard of being cold?" I asked.

By then they had almost caught up to me. "I didn't know you were hanging out with him," Katie said.

I stopped in my tracks and turned around to face them. "We're not 'hanging out' we just met, accidentally at the aquarium, and had a chat."

As soon as the words left my lips, I know I shouldn't have said it.

"At the aquarium? You were at the aquarium last night. You were with Poseidon, not Percy!"

"Isn't that what I have said all along?"

They didn't look very happy with that answer. But they said nothing. Katie opened the door and walked up the stairs to the apartment followed by Thalia and Clarisse.

I was about to follow when I felt a hand on my shoulder. "You know, you looked very funny," Rachel said.

I hit her playfully on the arm and we started to walk up the stairs.

"You knew it would happen all the time didn't you?" I laughed. She just laughed along with me.

* * *

A/N: Hope you liked it, long chapter just for you! Personally I enjoyed writing this chapter. Torturing characters is so fun to do.

The songs used are _Iris _by _The Goo Goo Dolls_ and _Wonderful World _by_ James Morrison._

Movies used are _Titanic _and _Poseidon _(Yes, it is a movie, a remake of _The Poseidon Adventure_) I'll leave the other two movies to your imagination – for now...

Just a random fact: Titanic really is 194 min. long. For the lazy ones that's 3 hours and 14 minutes.

I got a review to last chapter asking, actually saying, that _they were to old to have a movie night/sleepover and the age of 29 is your life's deadline.__ And that you have to have a job, home, and steady relationship by the time your 30 or you're setting your life up for failure._ My point, you're asking?

Where I come from it's fine if you don't have all of those things mentioned above. Also to whoever that person is Annabeth_ have_ a job in this story. This story will be told from the point of view of a Dane!

If the person would like a better explanation, or whatever, please PM me or let me know your username, so I don't have to write a reply here again.

Anyway... Thanks to all who has read, reviewed, putted me on authors alert and favorized me (Is that even a word?)

A very big thanks to Felicity Dream, who gave me some nice ideas for later.

I'd love to hear your thoughts – positive or negative.


	4. Movie Night

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and The Olympians, nor do I own any of the mentioned movies.

* * *

**Aquarium**

* * *

_Movie Night_

There had been quite an argument about what movie we should see first. As the most logical option I was about to propose that we watched either _Gladiator _or _Titanic_, since they were they longest, Rachel beat me to it. Clarisse had said that it was a bad idea, because they were so long and we wouldn't be able to sit still, at that point I took over and explained that there existed a lovely invention called a 'Remote' and that it could pause the movie – very smart for people who have ADHD. Clarisse sent her best death glare at me, while Katie, Thalia and Rachel were trying their best to hide their laughter.

"Fine," Clarisse had snapped at us and took _Titanic_ from the table, to start it. "Let's just get it over with and watch the stupid movie."

And we did, we saw it. All 194 minutes.

"Okay, now it is finally done can we eat? I can't be the only one who's hungry, can I?" Thalia asked.

"No, you're not," Katie said as she whipped away the tears from her cheeks. In the end Rachel and Katie had both sat and cried. Me, Thalia and Clarisse had just looked at them when the credits came, then looked at each other and started laughing. Rachel who had sat with a pillow through the entire film, stood up and started to hit us, while saying we were 'Heartless, cold, evil persons.' That didn't help us to stop laughing. In the end Thalia, Clarisse and I each took a pillow and started to hit Rachel to make her stop hitting us.

When we had calmed down, we found that Katie had, while we had played with pillows, found and prepared our meal, pizza, beverages were to be found at the table.

"Oh Katie, you're a pearl!*****" I said and smiled at her.

"That is _very_ true, but the truth is, I'm hungry," She laughed.

"You're so considerate towards your friends, you know that?" Thalia said.

"Yeah, I know and I love you too Thalia," Katie smiled. "Aren't you guys gonna eat?"

We all took some food and smiled at Katie. The conversation started to flow easily, we talked about all kinds of things – work, friends, things we heard on the news and our families. All the topics were quite harmless, but of course peace never last, and in the end an unavoidable topic came up: Relationships.

"So Clarisse, how's it going with Chris?" Rachel asked.

Clarisse glared at Rachel. "Aren't you the oracle? Shouldn't you know stuff? Besides it's none of your business."

"Oh, as your friends, I'd say it's definitely our business," Katie said.

"I have to agree with Katie on this one. You're our friend, your business is our business," Thalia laughed.

I cringed a bit, if I knew my friends as well as I thought I did, I knew that when they were done interrogating each other, it would be four against one. They would team up against me and catch me in a corner so I couldn't escape, then they would start questioning me. They had done it before and they would do it again. Luckily I'd had some practice in changing topic – I'd done it before and I'd do it again.

"Clarisse is right, it's none of our business."

Katie, Thalia and Rachel looked a me. "'Course it is. That's what friends are for, right?"

I was about to make a genius retreat, when Clarisse interrupted me.

"Me and Chris are fine, no problems. Thanks for your concern, but I don't need it," she smiled.

Rachel and Katie didn't look satisfied. They were about to continue their interrogating of Clarisse, when she interrupted them.

"What about you Katie? Got a special someone?" Clarisse asked. _Ahh, leading the attention on to someone else. Good thinking, Clarisse._

"No, I'm single and I'm happy," Katie answered.

"So you don't have a single little thing for someone? Not at all?" Thalia asked.

Katie shook her head.

I snorted. "Yeah right and you _so_ haven't talked on the phone to some mystery person for two hours."

Clarisse, Thalia and Rachel laughed.

Katie sent me a death glare. "Traitor."

"So you admit there is someone?" Rachel pointed a finger at her.

Katie sighed. "Will you believe me if I say no?" We shook our heads. "I guess there _might_ be one I like-"

"I knew it!" Rachel interrupted, she stood up and did a little happy dance.

"As I was saying, there _might_ be one, but I'm not sure, we haven't been friends for a very long time," Katie continued.

We shared a look and then sent Katie one, she gave us an assuring smile. "Don't worry, if something happen, note I said _if,_ you'll be the firsts to know."

We were all satisfied by her little speech, her reassurance if you want.

"So, Annabeth," Thalia said and directed her attention to me.

"So, Thalia?" I answered.

"So, Annabeth, how is your love life going?"

I rolled my eyes. "How do you think? Last time I checked, I didn't have one."

"It didn't sound like that from what Katie told us," Clarisse mumbled. As the mature person I was, I ignored her and ate some more pizza.

"Silence gives consent," Rachel sang. Mature as I am, I hit her in the arm.

Thalia looked at me and smirked. "You're blushing."

Curse my body! Since, as long as I can remember, whenever I felt pressured, I would start blushing. Unfortunately, many people see that as a sign of either a lie or embarrassment. I shook my head, it didn't matter to explain, they wouldn't understand.

"Anyone up for another movie?" I asked.

* * *

I sighed as I looked over the blueprints. Who would have thought it would take so long to redesign Olympus? Yeah, neither did I. So far it has taken me 13 years and I'm not done yet. Sure I have been a perfectionist in the process and wouldn't accept less than perfect, but still, it's a long time.

At Olympus, there had been made a room for my disposal, so I could work in peace and quiet. When I was introduced to this room 13 years ago, it seemed bigger. The room was not the biggest in the world, about 7 square meters, the walls were white and 4 meters tall, at the wall opposite the door there were a desk and to the left of it there were a window. That was how it looked when I first arrived, now every single inch were covered in blueprints, plans, pictures, notes and ideas. Even some of the floor was covered in stacks with paper. And believe it or not, I had a system! If I was asked to get a specific plan or drawing to inspection, I could do it in less than a minute.

The reason to my sighing, you may ask. A blueprint. I had been working on it for months and it just wouldn't cooperate with me. Usually, when I get inspiration, I can just take some paper and start drawing. This one wouldn't let me, it would in no way down on paper. It was frustrating as a certain place I have been and which happened to be located far below my feet.

I layed the blueprint down on the desk again, and sat down on the floor, my hand found my forehead on their own. Sometimes when I worked on something and it wouldn't cooperate with me; I'd get a headache. Lovely, I know. I also know what you are going to say: _"Go see a doctor, you might have a migraine. Blah, blah, blah..."_

My answer to that is simple: When I get a headache, I'm on Olympus. At my 'normal' work there is not that kind of problems, the things there are very cooperative (maybe because there are no Greek gods disagreeing and arguing over my designs) When I get those headaches and I'm on Olympus, I'm surrounded by gods. See my point? No need to go to a doctor. One hing that had done no good to my headache was the stares people, sorry _gods_, would give me when I had walked past them on my way from the entrance to my workroom. Already there, a headache had been just around the corner, ready to attack me – so to speak.

I sat there on the floor, my head resting on my hands and eyes closed, heaven know for how long. I just concentrated on my breathing, it usually made the pain go away.

"That's an... Interesting way of working," I heard a voice, definitely male, say behind me.

"I'm an interesting person," I murmured, not changing my position. The person behind me chuckled, I could feel that he made his way towards my work desk.

"Why isn't this one being constructed right now? It looks nice. Hmm... I see. Something is missing, but what?"

I opened my eyes and looked up at him. Inwardly I groaned. Poseidon stood with the final straw to my headache, also known as the blueprint, leaning on the desk. _My dignity,_ I thought. _That's what's missing._

"Now, I think it would be a bit hard to put your dignity on a fountain."

I narrowed my eyes.

"You do read minds," I accused.

He started to laugh. "No, I don't. But it does help, when you're thinking out loud."

I felt my cheeks start to heat up. That happened a lot lately.

"I can't figure out what's missing," I said, as I stood up. I'd like to say I did it gracefully, but then I'd be lying. I fell right into Poseidon.

"You just can't resist me, can you?"

Can you hit a god? Is it even legal? I didn't take the chance. I quickly placed myself _away_ from him.

"I've considered to make the fountain Greek," I said to come back at the original subject. "But I don't have any ideas that'll fit the surroundings."

Poseidon looked thoughtful. "You don't necessarily have to get your inspiration from Greece. You could take inspiration from anywhere. Maybe some of the famous fountains in the world, there is the Fountains ofVersailles in France, the Fontana di Trevi in Italy, there is the fountain at Trafalgar Square in England, the Buckingham fountain in Chicago is also nice. If you want to go after the less known, but still mythological, I say the Gefion Fountain in Denmark or maybe, in fear of sounding full of myself, the Neptune Fountain in Germany." He grinned at me.

"The problem is that I already have looked at those," I said, waving my hand towards the photos of said springs. "Nothing seems to fit," I sighed and rubbed my head. I turned towards Poseidon.

"Not to be disrespectful or anything, but what are you doing here?" I asked.

He glanced up from a sketch of a temple. "Hiding."

I raised my eyebrows.

"I'm gonna say Hermes, Apollo, Hephaestus and I'm gonna say gun filled with, only the gods know what. Need I say more?" he asked.

"And they are chasing you," I concluded.

Poseidon looked down at the sketch again. "Yes, that would be just about right. You know, this is nice." He smiled at me. "So is your jacket."

I smiled sheepishly. "What can I say, I like this fabric."

For a while neither of us said anything. Again, it wasn't an uncomfortable silence – actually very pleasant. I stood with a blueprint of a temple, trying to figure out if I could improve it. But there were something that kept nagging in the back of my head, and not just a headache, so I couldn't concentrate.

"It's not the only reason you're hiding, is it?" I asked.

He looked up from another drawing I had made, a park. "No, there were too much love in the air, wherever I went."

"Understandable," I nodded.

After that we stood in silence, until the door opened again. I looked up from the blueprint and black dots appeared in my vision. I hate when you have looked at something for a long time and then look at a source of light, stupid black dots.

"Annabeth, hello," Athena greeted warmly. "Poseidon," her voice turned cold.

"Hi mom," I said at the same time as Poseidon greeted my mom.

There was a silence, an uncomfortable one.

Poseidon cleared his throat. "I think it's safe to go now. Bye Annabeth, you might want to consider removing this jet. It's kind of disturbing the image." He smiled at me and handed me the blueprint of the spring, the one that gave me a headache.

"Thanks, I'll think about it," I murmured, though I could now see he was right.

Poseidon started to walk out. "Athena," he said, when he passed her.

When he was out of earshot, my mother turned to me. "I don't think I like that you're spending time with him."

"Mom, we're not spending time together. We've just met. Accidentally." _On more than one occasion,_ I added in my head.

You would think that Athena and Poseidon had started to get along since Percy and Athena started to be an item, but no. I won't say it got worse, but it definitely didn't get better.

My mother looked sceptically at me.

"If you would excuse me, I would like to pack up and get home. I've been here for a long time, I'm very tired and I would like to go home." I took my bag and looked if I had everything, I did. I said goodbye to my mother and walked over to the door. When I had one foot out of it, Athena called me back.

"Listen, Annabeth. I know you were... were hurt when Percy and I started to date, _are_ hurt. But please don't... Please don't, you know, settle for someone who looks like him." I had never heard my mother sound so concerned and certainly never stutter.

"I won't, that's not my style," I said, as I started to walk out of the door.

"Annabeth," my mother called. "We never, _I_ never meant to hurt you. Please remember that."

I sent my mother a warm smile before leaving her alone in my workroom.

* * *

A/N: *: In danish, you can say: 'Du er en perle.' It translates directly into: 'You are a pearl.' But the more roughly translation would be: 'You are a sweetie' – I think. In Danish you can also say: 'You are a sweetie' (Du er en skat) but in this case, I found 'pearl' better (If you can't see why, I'm not gonna bother to tell why. Then you'll just have to wait)

When I have math and do mathematical stuff, I use the meter system: Centimeters, meters, millimeters, kilometers etc. So to any non Europeans/ anyone who don't use 'my' metric system, here is the converting:

7 square meters = about 75 square feet.

4 meters tall = about 13 feet.

If you want, I can put links to the fountains on my profile.

On a different note, what did you think of this chapter? Please let me know, and if you have any ideas, that would be nice too (I have a plot, I just need some ideas. Please?)

Thanks to all of those who have read, reviewed, favorized and/or alerted. Makes me happy to know what people think of this.


	5. Lunch

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and The Olympians or any other brand mentioned.

Note: The (rough) translation of the French used in this chapter is to be found in the authors note.

* * *

**Aquarium**

* * *

_Lunch_

When you are designing a city for the gods, it has an upside and a downside. The upside, it's simply amazing. No other way to put it, you have no limits. You can do everything. The downside, when you come back to the mortal world, more specifically work, it's just not the same. You have all kinds of limits. You can do nothing.

That was my thoughts every time I entered my office after being on Olympus. My office in New York, of course. It was a little less than a mile from me and Katie's apartment. It never took longer than 30 minutes to arrive at work.

We, when I say 'we' I mean my company, took the two top floors of a skyscraper. My office was located on the top floor. It does not sound like the biggest company, but we were highly respected and people happily payed the price we demanded, and to tell the truth, we didn't want a bigger place and we didn't need it.

One of the things I loved about the place, was the view. It was amazing, I cannot describe how beautiful it was at sunset when you stood at the top of the building. It was one of those things, were you had to have experienced it yourself, before you had an idea of the beauty of the sunset over New York city, and I was so lucky that I experienced it almost every night.

"Bonjour mademoiselle Chase," Mélanie, the receptionist, said. She was in her early twenties and had moved from France to the U.S to study. She worked as a receptionist to get the money for her studies, she had only been in the U.S. for a short time and she had some troubles regarding to speak the English language so most of the time she spoke French. However she had no troubles understanding it. "Belle journé aujourd'hui, vous ne pensez pas?"

"Morning Mélanie," I smiled at her. "Lovely day indeed. I have a feeling it will turn out to be very good. How are you today?"

"Moi, je suis très bien, merci. Malcolm, votre frère a téléphoné. Voilà" she said and handed me a note with some words and numbers on. "Je pense qu'il est important."

"Thank you, have a nice day," I told her as I walked in the direction of my office.

"Merci beaucop. Bonne journée."

As I walked to my office, I decoded what the message said. Over the years my dyslexia had not gotten better, however I had gotten used to see numbers and I had learned to recognize some names – including my friends and family's names. This time it was Malcolm.

When I came into my office and had settled down, I took the phone and dialed Malcolm's number. While it was dialing, I took a half done blueprint, a pencil, a ruler, placed the phone between my ear and my shoulder, and started to draw. After some beeps, Malcolm finally took the phone. "It's Malcolm."

"Hey, it's Annabeth. You called me?" I said.

"Oh hi, Annabeth. Yeah I did. I... It's just been a while so I was wondering if we could catch up sometime? And, eh, sorry if I'm interrupting something."

"I called you, didn't I? But it's a great idea. When are you available?" I could hear the sound of blades turning in the other end of the phone.

"How do you feel about Wednesday?" Malcolm asked.

"This Wednesday?" I asked as I found my calendar.

"Yep, the one and only September 3rd." I looked at the right date in my calendar and saw nothing on the day. No plans.

"Wednesday sounds good. When will we meet?" I asked.

"Lunch?"

"The usual place?"

"Usual time?"

"I think we have a deal," I laughed. It was great when you knew a person so well that you just had to say a few words to each other and you immediately knew what you were talking about.

"So do I. I really got to get back to work. See you there Annabeth," Malcolm said.

"Okay, see you on Wednesday." I said.

I turned my attention onto the blueprint as soon as I had put down the phone.

* * *

Malcolm and I had always been close. Though, it didn't happen quite as often as when we were younger, we liked to meet and catch up on our lives. It could be a bit hard to find a day where we both could, often when I could, Malcolm couldn't and vice versa. When we did find a day, we would meet up at a little café we had discovered some years ago.

At the time I arrived, Malcolm was already there. He sat in our usual place, a booth where you could look out of the windows to the streets of New York. When Malcolm caught eye of me, he smiled and waved at me.

As I made my way over to him, with a big smile, he stood up and was ready to hug me. We sat down after we had had our greetings. I layed my jacket at the seat next to me and turned my attention to Malcolm.

"We really need to catch up more often. Your hair is visibly longer than the last time I saw you," he laughed.

My hand found the ponytail and followed the hair over my shoulder. "Couldn't agree more." I moved my hair back to its previous position. "Is it just me or is there more people than usual?"

Malcolm looked around the café. "Yeah, there is a bit crowded. Maybe we have been absent for too long?"

"Maybe," I answered and turned so I could catch the attention of one of the waiters. Or try to catch the attention, they were busy so we just had to wait for them to get the time.

"Eh, Annabeth?"

I turned around so I looked at him. "Yeah?" I smiled.

He had a smirk on his face, it didn't look reassuring. "What?" I asked still with a smile.

He shook his head in disbelief. "I just didn't know you had that kind of taste in jackets. Don't get we wrong, I think it suits you."

My smile disappeared.

"That joke is very bad, and died a while ago."

Malcolm just laughed. "Sorry, I just couldn't resist."

I glared at him as he kept laughing.

"Ha ha ha, let's just laugh at the girl who got a jacket and then uses it. Ha ha ha, hear that Malcolm? I'm almost _dying_ of laughter," I said sarcastically.

"Oh, come on! It's funny considering who gave it to you," he winked at me, causing me to glare at him.

"What have you and Rachel been talking about?" I asked, still glaring at my dear brother.

He looked surprised before answering, "I haven't talked to Rachel about any personal things, we've mainly talked about Camp, the kids and stuff like that."

Now it was my turn to be surprised. "Camp?"

"Yeah, I teach at Camp, remember?" he told me in a voice that indicated, I should know.

"Oh, yeah, 'course I remember," I said rather sheepishly. After his high school graduation Malcolm had been offered a job at Camp Half-Blood. He accepted and has since that taught demi-gods Greek.

"Wait, if not Rachel, then who?" I let the question hang in the air.

"Katie told me," he admitted. _Aha,_ _Katie-dear you are so busted, _I thought.

"So, you're the one she's been talking to?" I smiled.

"What?"

"She's been on the phone with some mysterious guy and she hasn't told me who," I explained in a rush. That's when I saw the look on Malcolm's face, I continued, "That's not you, is it?"

"No," he gave me a concerned look. "We talked when I was in her boutique-"

"Boutique, huh? Big words, mister," I teased.

"Annabeth, don't interrupt and don't make fun of me, that's what it's called, it means shop, you know that. As I was saying, we talked in her boutique when I came today – I had to, somehow, kill time before I came here and she told me," Malcolm said. Before I could ask another question, explain or say _anything_ Malcolm continued, "She also told me that you had a movie-night slash a get-together-thing, how was that?"

"Katie didn't tell you that?" I mocked.

"Would I ask if she had?"

I laughed. "Yeah, you would."

"We're getting of track," an annoyed Malcolm said.

"Okay," I stifled my laugh. "We had fun, found some movies in Blockbuster, saw the movies, talked. You know, the usual. Actually you _wouldn't_ know, because you weren't there, but you get the idea, right?"

"I get it," Malcolm said calmly, probably trying to calm me down. "The usual Blockbuster?"

"Of course. Silly little Malcolm," I teased him.

Malcolm nodded. "Silly me. How do you feel about sharing 'your' Blockbuster with Greek gods?" He made quotation marks with his fingers at the word 'your'.

"It's not _mine_ alone," I rolled my eyes. "It belongs to all people in the world," I finished with waving my hands in the air around me.

Malcolm stared at me. "Since when did you become so – in lack of a better word – weird?"

Huffing I said, "You didn't let me finish. As I was saying, belongs to all people in the world, yada yada yada, however it's not many who notice the place, ergo it _could_ easily be mine alone. Cue evil laugh." I laughed a bit to illustrate my evil laugh. "No, I don't mind sharing Blockbuster with others. It's a great place, why wouldn't other people like it?"

Malcolm let out a breath. "Oh, that's great. I thought I'd lost you to some aliens for a second."

"Don't you worry 'bout that. I don't have any plans involving abduction by aliens," I smiled at him.

"Dearest Annabeth," Malcolm smiled even more by the glare I gave him. "You still haven't answered my hidden question."

"Hidden question?" I laughed at his expression as he had talked.

"Yes, hidden question. The question that involves Greek gods, a Blockbuster and you, care to share?" he smirked at me.

I sighed. "There's nothing to tell."

Of course I ended up telling him what had happened. When I finished he laughed and said, "So typical you, sorry to say it, but it is."

"Yeah yeah, whatever, do you have anything useful to say?" I asked.

Malcolm thought for a second. "Useful, no. Thought-provoking, yes. From your story, it sounds like most of the Olympian council were there, it's quite odd."

"Malcolm, you're smart, you know many things. Do you know _why_ they were at Blockbuster?" I asked and leaned closer to him.

"Why didn't you just ask Poseidon?" Malcolm asked with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you were 'best friends'."

"We're not! Besides, would _you_ have asked?" I retorted.

"Eh no, touché. I think Rachel said something about them wanting to get some more insight in the mortal world."

"By movies," I asked incredulously.

Malcolm shrugged. "I'm not a god, what do I know?"

"Apparently nothing," I laughed.

"You're _so_ nice, you know that?"

I shrugged. "What can I say? I'm amazing."

Malcolm smiled. "Confidence is always a good thing."

* * *

A/N: I seriously need some ideas, please?

Thanks to all of those who have read, reviewed, favorized and/or alerted.

Please let me know what you thought and please take a moment to vote the poll on my profile.

I know it takes me a while to update, but my mind keeps getting new ideas. Sorry. Also, please don't tell me to update. I use a lot of time on this (no profit) and I will update as soon as I can – to understand better: www [dot] syacortoonist [dot] com/moar

(For some reason, I have started to be very keen of this pairing – expect some more stories from my side over the summer)

You have no idea of how annoying it was to write French. Luckily I am over French, I am not going to have it next year (Yes!) Therefore I might change it to another language later.

Translation of the French:

"Good morning miss Chase."

"Lovely day today, don't you think?"

"I am very well, thank you. Malcolm, your brother, has called. Here you go." - "I think that it is important."

"Thank you very much. Have a nice day."


End file.
